This week saw two groups opened for excavation and almost finished by week’s end. The first was named Tortilla and is located immediately south of Bimbo atop a large hill. Although the plaza is large – and flat – only two structures are visible, one on the west and one on the north. Three excavations were made into Tortilla: axial excavations on both the north and west structures and a vacant terrain excavation on the eastern side of the plaza. At week’s end, both the eastern and western excavations had been dug to bedrock. The northern excavation produced evidence of an earlier building phase and, although bedrock was hit in the front and back of the building, still more excavation was needed in the core of the structure.

A second group was opened for excavation to the east of Galletas (which was completed last week). The new group was named Migas and consists of four elevated structures on a raised platform. One of the two northern buildings was axially penetrated and the eastern construction was also axially dug. At week’s end, both excavations were down to bedrock. The eastern excavation produced three Late Classic vessels that were probably associated with two burials, but the soil is so acidic that most of the bone is completely gone; only small fragments were found. Two caches were also found in the eastern building, a finger bowl and a face cache.

In Dulce, the collapsed area at the base of the eastern structure was excavated and turned into a collapsed tomb that had been dug into bedrock. The collapsed tomb had been in-filled during the Late Classic Period when the basal stair was reset. At least three individuals had once occupied this chamber and more than eleven vessels have been recovered in association with the chamber floor; these all date to the transition between the Early and Late Classic Period. A finger cache and a face cache were found beneath the reset lower step on axis with the tomb. Also in Dulce, excavations continued in two other buildings. The northern building has produced a series of successive facings and floors; this is a similar situation to what was found in the southern building. The southern building was excavated to bedrock through the majority of the trench by the week’s end.

In Bimbo, the tomb in the central eastern building was excavated all week. The southern part of the chamber is filled with stacked vessels and bone. Some of the vessels still have their decoration in fairly good condition; one dish exhibits a painted bat. The vessels in this chamber are all Late Classic in date. Also in Bimbo, excavations continued in the northern, southern, and western buildings. A collapsed chultun was located in front of the western building and evidence of an earlier building was found within the northern construction.

On Saturday, the clean-up crew arrived by plane in Belize City to help with the last three weeks of the project. Once the excavations are finished, we have a lot of drawing to do…

Bat Dish in Bimbo Tomb

Migas East Building

Dulce Excavations N&E

Lucas in Lower Dulce Tomb

Johnny North Building Migas

Chultun in West Building Bimbo

North Building Tortilla